More charges slapped on man who hurled shoe at CM Badal

HT Correspondent,
Ludhiana

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Updated: Aug 19, 2014 10:56 IST

Bikram, the man who hurled a shoe at Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at Issru (Ludhiana) during a political conference on August 15, has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. He was produced before the court on Monday.

The police have added Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66A of the IT (information technology) Act to the FIR registered against Bikram and his accomplices. The FIR has no reference to the show-hurling incident.

Initially, the police had booked him under sections 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Later, sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from duty), 353 (assault or criminal force with intent to deter public servant from duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC were slapped on him.

The police have accused him of tearing the uniform of subinspector Manjit Singh of the Khanna police and for deterring him from performing his duty.

Bikram’s accomplices Mahinderpal Singh of Dangarh village and Harvinder Singh of Kothe Gobindpur are in police custody, while Hardeep Singh is at large.

GS Dhillon, deputy inspector general (DIG), Ludhiana range, stated that during the interrogation, it was found that the accused had hatched a conspiracy about a month ago. He added that Bikram did a recce of the spot on August 14, using the motorcycle of one Gagan Singh of Barnala, but without revealing his plans to the latter.

The DIG said Bikram’s aim was to gain publicity by hurling a shoe towards the CM, so that he could collect more funds and make progress within the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Dhillon said investigations had revealed that a video clip of Bikram justifying the act was made prior to the incident, but it was aimed at creating the false impression of being made afterwards. In another piece of footage, Bikram is seen throwing a shoe towards the stage and being nabbed by security personnel while trying to remove his other shoe. Bikram’s accomplice Mahinderpal had recorded the incident on his mobile phone. Investigations also revealed that the first footage was uploaded on Whatsapp, the DIG added.

He pointed out that the investigation by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) had revealed a conspiracy by AAP activists. The accused planned to create hype on the social media by uploading video clips on Whatsapp and Facebook, the DIG said.

He claimed that after the incident, Mahinderpal, Harvinder and Hardeep had left Issru village. They spoke to AAP MP Bhagwant Mann from Harvinder’s phone and updated him about the incident before leaving for Jarag village for a meeting with Mann, the DIG said.